


A little longer

by mkhhhx



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Gen, Grief/Mourning, M/M, Minor Character Death, Monsta X Polyship Bingo, Slice of Life, single parent that is actually a brother
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2019-08-18
Packaged: 2020-09-06 22:01:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20298628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mkhhhx/pseuds/mkhhhx
Summary: A little warmth, help and hospitality from Minhyuk and Kihyun go a long way for Jooheon and his brother.





	A little longer

**Author's Note:**

> For the "single parent" square for the Jooheon Polyship Bingo

It was in the middle of August, at the end of a noneventful week that Jooheon’s phone started ringing in the late hours of the night with a call from an unknown number. He remembers picking it up and letting it fall from trembling hands after a few seconds. He remembers the nurse from the other end of the line saying something about his parents, an accident, saying she’s so sorry.

He barely remembers the rest, but he knows what happened. He rushed to the hospital only to find two bodies, almost unidentifiable. A truck with a drunk driver and his parents in their little car were in his way. And then he had to go home to find his brother, his eight year old brother still awake and waiting for their parents to come home, wide-eyed the moment Jooheon stepped inside.

Then it was mountains of paperwork and calls, endless calls. His relatives, his boss, the funeral home, his parents’ bank, their friends, having to explain and talk about it again and again and in the middle of it, Jaegyu, his brother, confused and scared. Jooheon felt everything spiraling out of his control.

The two days to the funeral seem like centuries to him. He has thought about being the one to teach his brother how to put on a tie a lot of times, but it was never for something like this, never a black one. Jaegyu was silent, almost invisible, watching his big brother breaking down and collecting himself again before driving them to the funeral. And Jooheon wants to tell him that it’s gonna be okay, everything is gonna be alright, eventually, but he doesn’t even believe it himself, not yet.

“Jooheon” a hand rests on his shoulder, almost weightless, as light as the voice calling his name. “Jooheon.”

He shakes himself out of his thoughts, looking at Minhyuk next to him, realizing how bad he must look, crying, sleepless for the past three days.

“I’m okay” he mutters, falling into Minhyuk’s arms and letting himself sob as his friend holds him close and caresses his back, whispering that it’s gonna be alright.

“You’re not” Minhyuk tells him, “you’re not and it’s okay.”

The space have cleared out of people and Jooheon looks around, gaze falling at his parents’ memorial, hidden underneath flowers. Minhyuk takes his hand, leading him to a marble bench to sit.

“Do you know where my brother is?” Jooheon manages to ask, wiping his eyes on the sleeve of his suit.

“With his grandparents, outside.” Minhyuk reassures him and a new wave of anxiety washes Jooheon as he remembers the last call with his grandparents before the funeral.

“They can’t keep Jaegyu” Jooheon says, feeling his breathing getting out of control, but Minhyuk’s hand is still on his back, keeping him grounded, “they are old, I understand but I can’t…how can I raise him, Minhyuk?”

“You will” Minhyuk takes a small packet of tissues from his pocket, “you will do it just fine.”

“I barely make enough money for myself and-“

“Jooheon, Jooheon, you have the insurance money for a start, you can, Jooheon, breath, you can go back to your parents’ house and stop renting your place.”

“Yes.” Is all Jooheon manages. He wants to calm down before he goes outside, he doesn’t want his brother to see him as a mess again.

“I was talking with Kihyun” Minhyuk says slowly, “this morning.” He looks at Jooheon, taking his hand, “if you want you can come stay with us for a while.”

“Stay with you?” Jooheon looks at him.

“Yes, we have space and someone is usually at home at mornings so Jaegyu won’t be alone until school starts, please, let us help, Jooheon.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Please don’t lock yourself inside, I know it’s hard, but please be strong for a while longer, okay?”

“Okay.” Jooheon nods and Minhyuk helps him get up. He’s stopped crying and that’s the best he can do, for now.

One week passes, one week without more contact with the outside world other than the absolutely necessary, typical calls and shopping for food, mostly frozen meals because Jooheon doesn’t have the energy for anything better.

Jaegyu spends the days inside his room, his door shut and Jooheon has no idea what he is doing, but he doesn’t dare knock. He realizes that he doesn’t know how to take care of his brother, a seventeen years difference between them crating a huge gap. He only hopes his brother will eventually understand and forgive the way he is poorly handling things.

A week and a day passes and Jooheon hasn’t yet returned to work, locked up inside and staring at the walls, when he calls Minhyuk to take up his and Kihyun’s offer, for a little time, maybe the couple of weeks until school starts again and Jooheon starts working normally.

Kihyun is the one waiting for them when they arrive later in the afternoon with a couple bags of clothes, Minhyuk out at work. Jooheon doesn’t remember seeing him at the funeral, but he knows he was there, the same Kihyun he always knew, soft-spoken, gentle, comforting. A Kihyun different than the one Minhyuk knows.

At first it’s difficult, especially for Jaegyu when Jooheon starts going to work again. He barely knew Minhyuk and Kihyun, has probably seen them only a handful of times when he was staying at Jooheon’s place some weekends. But they are both patient with him, easing him out of his little protective bubble little by little and gaining his trust.

Jooheon starts feeling better too, some warm food always around and his brother being properly taken care of. When Kihyun suggests therapy for both himself and Jaegyu he doesn’t turn it down, discussing it with his brother and making appointments for both. He doesn’t really want to go, but he knows it will pay off in the long run.

And when Jaegyu starts school again, they are both still there, Jaegyu at the guest room and Jooheon at the couch of Kihyun’s and Minhyuk’s home, soaking in the comfort and reassurance the couple provides for them.

Jooheon has known Minhyuk his whole life, well most of it, anyway. Sitting next to each other at the first day of elementary and going all to the way to high school graduation together. If there was one person who knew Jooheon inside and out, that was Minhyuk. He knew what to say and when, he knew when Jooheon needed physical affection and when he needed space. Those first weeks after the accidnt, he was Jooheon’s lifeline.

Kihyun came into the picture much later. At first he was just Minhyuk’s new boyfriend at university and now, his husband. They’ve have hanged out a lot through the past few years and their relationship was always one of mutual respect. Kihyun was more on the serious and collected side, but he knew how to handle people delicately, he could step in when Minhyuk was being too much.

“I like it here” Jaegyu had said one night Jooheon was tucking him in, “the hyungs are nice to me and they make you smile.” And that was enough for Jooheon to offer paying for their share of the house bills to extend their stay for a little longer.

They’ve fallen into a short of comfortable routine after some months, Minhyuk making breakfast at mornings, Kihyun playing videogames with Jaegyu at lazy afternoons, Jooheon doing the grocery shopping on Friday evenings, and it’s nice, Jooheon’s heart mending little by little.

It’s a snowy Saturday morning when Jooheon finds himself alone at the kitchen with Kihyun, Minhyuk at the park with Jaegyu. It’s quiet, but there’s some tension, something that Jooheon cannot really pinpoint, sipping his coffee and scrolling through his phone.

“Jooheon?” Kihyun asks, perched on the counter with his tea.

“Yeah?” Jooheon turns his phone off to look at him and for the first time, Kihyun looks like he doesn’t know exactly what to say. So Jooheon gives him time.

“I hope you are comfortable with us.” Kihyun’s lisp is obvious, like all the times he’s stressed about something. “It’s nice having you and Jaegyu here, it really is, for both me and Minhyuk.”

“I’m thankful, you’ve helped me with everything and especially my brother and…I know we should leave at some point but…”

“You don’t have to, really, not anytime soon” Kihyun hops off the counter to pull out a chair next to Kihyun. “Jooheon, how long has it been since you last got out of the house to enjoy yourself? I’m sorry if I’m overstepping, but it’s been months and I know that you need it.”

“I…” Jooheon looks at his hands, he hasn’t gone out for anything other than work, shopping or his brother ever since the accident. “It’s been long, yeah.”

“We can go out for dinner if you want.” Kihyun says timidly.

“The two of us?”

“Or you and Minhyuk, whatever you want. One of us can stay back with Jaegyu.”

“It’s like…” Jooheon tries to connect the dots. They don’t make much sense.

“It can be anything you want” Kihyun explains, his hand so close to Jooheon’s but not quite touching him, “maybe a little more than a friendly dinner but less than a date.”

“Are you…are you interested in me in that way?” Jooheon knew about Minhyuk, he always knew, but he never thought anything of the sort about Kihyun.

“Minhyuk always was, since you were teenager and I slowly start to understand why.” Kihyun gulps down his tea and takes a deep breath, “do not think this is out of pity or anything like it. It’s an offer that you can take or turn down whenever you want.”

“Okay” Jooheon nods, trying to process, “okay, I will think about it.”

The same night, in that same kitchen he kisses Minhyuk. He kisses Minhyuk shyly like when they were fourteen in Jooheon’s room and Minhyuk kisses him back like when they were seventeen, drunk out of their minds at an empty playground. And when they part and Minhyuk smiles at him, a smile that has stayed the same for two and a half decades Jooheon for once feels happy again, after so much time he feels something falling in place.

“Would you want to stay with the hyungs a little longer, Jaegyu?” He asks one afternoon he picks his brother from school, a few days after his first dinner with Kihyun.

“Yes!” Jaegyu smiles, “they let me play their videogames as much as I want and Minhyuk hyung teaches me how to draw and Kihyun hyung takes me for football and they let my friends come over. And…”

“And?” Jooheon looks at his expectantly.

“Last night I saw Kihyun hyung kissing you goodnight.”

“Oh” Jooheon blushes.

“If that makes you as happy as playing videogames makes me, let’s stay.”

And so, they do stay.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
